ffc1006e-7f9d-47cf-a2cd-47a0f8d3d0e3
"On this key motorway we are starting with the construction of a section which has almost 15 km and will open the motorway after 44 months. In the spring of 2019 construction of 12.6 km will start as well and we want to open both sections in 2022. The extension to the D35 will take heavy traffic away from road I/35 between Holice and Zámrsk and relief adjacent towns and municipalities. When completed, this motorway should then divert a portion of traffic from the D1 which has been stretched to its limits," says the Transport Minister Dan Ťok.

Before the completion of this 27km section, RSD shall gradually start work on several other places on the D35. From 2021 construction on sections Ostrov – Vysoké Mýto, Vysoké Mýto – Džbánov, Džbánov – Litomyšl, Litomyšl – Janov and Janov – Opatovec with a total length of 55 km will gradually start. The whole D35 shall connect Jičín, Hradec Králové, Olomouc and Lipník nad Bečvou and with a total length of more than 200 km it will the second longest motorway in the Czech Republic. D35 is also part of the European TEN-T corridors in its entire length.

At the moment 194 km of new motorways and category 1 roads, mostly city bypasses, are under construction. New motorway sections constitute 133 km, of which 21 km is the D1 where construction works are under way during motorway operation. You can find more details on the different projects on our interactive map.

]]>Tue, 04 Dec 2018 13:09:23 GMTa847343a-dc45-41ee-8ad3-e86994deca59
"It was essential for the Czech Republic that the directive concerning the posting of workers in the framework of the provision of services does not apply to bilateral transport. Regarding the so-called cabotage (i.e. operating transport services within another member state), the existing regime will be preserved, allowing three operations within seven days. On the other hand, a period of five days for breaks between cabotage was laid down," says minister Ťok who attended the meeting of transport ministers of the EU states.

The rules will also allows drivers spend two subsequent weekly rest times in their truck cabin, but they must spend their regular weekly rest hours outside the vehicle. Driver's work must be organised by the transport company in a way that the driver can return home every three or four weeks. Until the end of 2024 all vehicles in which international transport and cabotage is operated must be equipped with second-generation tachographs.

The compromise will be further negotiated in trialogues with the European Commission and the European Parliament. Long disputes had taken place about the so-called mobility package in the past. Countries such as France, Belgium and Germany decided to protect themselves against cheaper competitors from central and east European countries and were not interesting in any dialogue. Any efforts by central and east European countries, which were offering a number of concessions during the negotiations, had been permanently blocked.

The ministers were also discussing in Brussels the directive regarding the end of the seasonal time change. Like in October in Graz, the majority of member states agreed that a detailed analysis and an impact assessment should be provided for the named proposal on the European level.

]]>Tue, 04 Dec 2018 09:38:13 GMT5038ec56-e1dc-4031-a96e-0371b8a8071a

"We brought momentum to the construction of roads and the entire capacity of building companies is now almost exhausted. On Tuesday 4 December we will start with the construction of the D35 motorway in section Časy – Ostrov still and want to start with the D3 in Hodějovice – Třebonín until the end of the year as well, so we will add another 27 km, which means that 204 km of new roads will be under construction by the end of 2018," says the Transport Minister Dan Ťok.

By the end of this year 45.5 km of roads will have been opened, of which 30 km are motorways and 15.5 km are category 1 roads. For 2019 RSD has another 172 km of new motorways and category 1 roads ready for construction and the biggest projects are the D1, D3, D7, D35 plus D46, D48 and D49. Construction of the bypasses of Znojmo, Krnov, Kravaře, Karviná, Nová Paka, Církvice and Olbramovice will start.

"In 2019 an 8km section of the D3 Bošilec – Ševětín and by the end of the year another 14km section between Přerov and Lipník on the D1 shall be open for drivers. When counting category I roads as well, we will get 46 km of new roads," says the RSD CEO Jan Kroupa.

Drivers will encounter most building machines on the D1 motorway between Prague and Brno on up to seven construction sites in 2019, so that the entire D1 has been overhauled by 2021. 90 km of the motorway have been completed and the length of the remaining sections is 70 km. On top of this, intensive work will continue on the motorway by Prague and Brno.

All motorway and category 1 road sections that the RSD is planning to build or repair can be found on the RSD website on an interactive amp. Find more about the D1 modernisation at www.novad1.cz. Drivers can call the free number +420 800 280 281 and get current information on traffic restrictions. The RSD assistance service can be also called using this number. Traffic information is available at www.dopravniinfo.cz.

]]>Wed, 21 Nov 2018 10:32:26 GMT7c5500ac-7bd4-4897-b85b-1175b312127b

Pilotless planes have a big potential in many industries such as aerial photography, infrastructure inspections, security, search for people, building security, agriculture, telecommunications, the film industry and transportation of parcels and medical materials. These machines keep on improving, constantly receive new features and become cheaper to buy. In the future they may even transport people. "Drones have a huge potential and can bring substantial innovation to transportation. The use of drones by the police, customs administration and fire brigade is a separate chapter. Clear rules must be defined and regulation must apply in the future, so that drones do not threaten the air traffic and citizens," says the Transport Minister Dan Ťok.

The Smart Sky concept defines the essential pillars for this: use of traditional know-how in the aviation industry, university research and development, international collaboration, creation of infrastructure and well-functioning state administration and regulation. "We want to ensure that drones can operate in a safe way up to the level of autonomous flying and want to support the development of all related services. On the Czech territory we also want to establish testing space for drones which follows local trends in Europe and the world," minister Ťok lists more concept objectives. The Smart Sky concept is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Transport, the Civil Aviation Authority, Air Navigation Services of the Czech Republic, Czech Technical University and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Alliance (UAVA).

Air space digitalisation, involving certain security features, a high level of automation and simplicity in use, will be the tool to achieve this objective. The unmanned vehicles strategy also brings more awareness campaigns in this area where commercial flights without a permit, flying over people, buildings and roads without a permit and better control and enforcement of the rules in practice are the most frequent offences.

These steps are taken in line with new European legislation that shall be passed at the turn of 2018 and 2019. Its objective is to create a more efficient and flexible regime that will unify the rules for unmanned vehicles across the EU. It will introduce three basic operation categories and reference to the so-called UTM/U-Space, i.e. services and infrastructure for the control and monitoring of drones in air space. The new legislation shall also, among other things, establish a national registry for all drones heavier than 250 g and their operator.

]]>Thu, 15 Nov 2018 14:04:07 GMT7cf3aac2-16a8-4728-b123-79b444851db2

"By the beginning of 2019 we are planning to open the competition dialogue where companies from France, an Austrian-German consortium, a German-Spanish-British association of companies and an Austrian-Australian-Spanish-French consortium will compete. The winning consortium shall start building another 32 km of the D4 motorway and operate them for 25 years after construction completion," says the Transport Minister Dan Ťok.

Seven requests for participation were filed. The Ministry of Transport assessed whether all seven applications meet the tender terms and which bidders best meet the technical qualification criteria. The commission then stated that all bidders met the tender terms and recommended – in accordance with the tender terms – limiting their number to four for subsequent negotiations in the so-called competition dialogue.

After this, contractual documentation will be finalised and provided to the bidders as input for their participation in the competition dialogue. The ministry plans to send the call for participation in the competition dialogue by the beginning of next year unless one of the losing consortia raises objections to the limitation of the number of bidders.

"The development preparations for the D4 extension continue, last pieces of land are being purchased and rental agreement and liens prepared. The Ministry of the Environment has also completed the EIA process and a positive binding statement was issued for the entire remaining D4 section," adds minister Ťok.

]]>Tue, 13 Nov 2018 10:06:35 GMT08f7ce78-d8b4-4cc1-b3cf-2daaa18ea6d4

"By using the EIB loan, we are preparing ourselves for the future funding of transport infrastructure. European funds, from which most biggest transportation projects have been paid, will decline in the future. By taking this loan, we will also gain experience with other possible funding methods. And that experience will come useful in the future," says the Transport Minister Dan Ťok.

The aim was to get the consent of the government on the acceptance of a loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) up to a maximum amount of CZK 11.5 billion. The money shall be used for the upgrade of selected railway corridors which belonged to the "Elimination of Selected Bottlenecks on Designated Corridors of the Main Network in the Czech Republic" project submitted to the so-called Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) blending call.

This "blending" means that projects are funded by combining subsidies, the EIB loan and money from the national budget. It is the result of efforts of the European Commission to seek innovative funding models for transport infrastructure. Put simply, the European Commission provides subsidies to motivate us to take loans for accelerated funding transport infrastructure.

The European Investment Bank is an international financial institution which shall primarily support development schemes in EU member states. Therefore, it provides better interest rates than other market alternatives. The Ministry of Finance will enter into the individual loan agreements and decide whether they are profitable. The same ministry will also guarantee Czech Republic's ability to repay the loans.

]]>Wed, 07 Nov 2018 14:51:47 GMT0e7ab0a7-e080-4509-9b21-7d97296a0ef0
"Hosting the World Road Congress is great success and a matter of high prestige for the Czech Republic. Traffic experts from all over the world will come to meet in Prague. This will be an excellent opportunity to present the Czech Republic as a country which has dramatically changed since the 1970s and can rightfully claim a place among modern European states," says the Transport Minister Dan Ťok.

Prague got 122, Sydney 66 and Kuala Lumpur 32 votes in a secret vote about the congress venue. The Czech capital won primarily thanks to its corresponding professional care available for road experts. Another important factor which influenced the vote by the member states is the convenient geographical location of Prague in the heart of Europe. Thanks to our location, we are well connected with other world regions and are easy to reach.

PIARC is an international non-profit and non-political association devoted to international cooperation in road traffic and road infrastructure. The Czech Republic is a member of this association. The World Road Congress has been organised since 1909. The last one took place in Soul in 2015 and the 2019 venue is the United Arab Emirates.

]]>Thu, 25 Oct 2018 11:22:12 GMT8d7e1b11-4617-4cf2-b313-34175f8f9c1b
"In 2018 we decided to accommodate the requirements of the Hradec Králové Region and the Ministry of the Environment to exempt parts of the motorway from paid sections, because they are bypass roads. To be specific, these are Frýdek-Místek – Dobrá on D48, Sedlice – Kukleny on D11 and Sedlice – Opatovice on D35. Starting next year, this will add another 13 km to the existing 186 km where drivers pay nothing," said the transport minister Dan Ťok.

The Hradec Králové Region and the City of Hradec Králové argued in their main remark that the sections of motorways D11 and D35 are actually the south-west city bypass and are heavily used by local traffic as well. "These motorway sections are a suitable route for long-distance transit as well. Specifically, I mean the direction from Náchod and Trutnov (access to Hradce Králové on road I/33), from Jičín (access to Hradce Králové on road I/35) and from Nový Bydžov (on road II/324) for drivers who continue to Pardubice (on road I/37) and the other way round. In the current state, these vehicles transiting without the motorway sticker and subject to this fee must use roads in the city of Hradec Králové (I/35, I/31 and I/37) and/or road II/324 on the municipal land of Opatovice nad Labem," the city and region remarked.

The Ministry of the Environment requested in their remark to exempt a part of the D48 in section Frýdek-Místek – Dobrá from paid motorways. "The reason why we argue this way is very poor air quality in municipality Dobrá arising from heavy traffic on road II/648 (which passes through the city centre), because drivers are avoiding the paid section of the D48 motorway by taking road II/648 instead," the ministry said.

Since the start of 2018, no sticker has been required on the D3 around Veselí nad Lužnicí, the D6 between Cheb and Karlovy Vary, the D55 around Otrokovice, the D52 near Pohořelice or part of the D46 motorway near Hněvotín thanks to the free use of the Olomouc bypass on the D35 motorway.

In the past, sections of the D1 around Brno, the D3 motorway around Tábor, the D6 near Cheb and the D10 around Mladá Boleslav were exempt from charges. In the next round, the ministry enabled free-of-charge access to Prague for the inhabitants of surrounding municipalities near Prague, i.e. sections on the D6, D7, D10 and D11.

Sales of motorway stickers have been growing
"These changes did not show in the sales of motorway stickers – on the contrary, their sales have been rising every year. Last year CZK 5.027 billion were collected, which is CZK 268 million more than in 2016 and 561 million more than in 2015," says minister Ťok. In 2014, when no section was excluded from the fees, a total of 5.446 million motorway stickers were sold and in 2016 it was almost 841 000 more. And in 2017 the figures grew by another 343 000 stickers. Sales were growing in 2018 as well.

The sales of one-year motorway coupons for 2019 for weight category up to 3.5 tonnes will start no later than on December 1. Coupons with a validity period of one month or ten days will be available for sale with the arrival of the new year. Coupon prices for 2019 remain the same as this year. The one-year coupon for 2019 is valid from December 1, 2018 to January 31, 2020, and its price is CZK 1,500. The price of the one-month coupon is CZK 440 and the price of the 10-day coupon is CZK 310. New motorway stickers will again be provided with security features due to their increased counterfeit protection.

]]>Tue, 23 Oct 2018 12:57:21 GMTee0663ab-01a4-490a-9bf4-f1f2964c5d84
Different variants of the water corridor, including the combination of only some branches, were assessed in the study. The project containing all three branches shows a positive economic effectiveness slightly above the limit set out by the effectiveness assessment methodology. The Risk Analysis showed that more project benefits would be complicated due to limited transportation capacity that would entail additional investment costs. The results confirmed that the project variant including the Elbe branch is risky. A connection between Danube and Odra got a much better mark.

The study says that the construction of the water corridor is closely connected with projects which shall improve navigation on connecting rivers, i.e. Elbe, Odra and/or Váh. The study assumes that a certain level of navigation will be achieved, which is not the case at the moment. This will lead to investment costs of the provision of corresponding navigation class in these river sections, which the study does not foresee. An independent economic assessment and separate projects in Poland and Slovakia must be prepared for these connecting projects.

The members of the Monitoring Committee, counting the representatives of different ministries, universities, regions, stakeholders and international representation of Slovakia and Poland, have been discussing the results of the study and economic assessment. The Central Commission of the Ministry of Transportation will also assess the material and the documents will be subject to a peer review across departments as well. Then the study will be submitted to the government for approval. The next steps, also including the EIA, will follow the government negotiations.

The Ministry of Transport assigned the feasibility study for the Danube-Odra-Labe water corridor to check the economic effectiveness of this prospective new water route in terms of transportation, water management, energy and recreational function. The study was prepared in line with government decision of January 19, 2011 that inputs shall be prepared for a water corridor assessment and for the decision whether the corridor shall be kept it or removed from landscape protection. Work on the study commenced in July 2016.
]]>Fri, 19 Oct 2018 09:54:18 GMT3fc3ef62-f530-4dbf-b89c-a7b859062f4a
The budget will make it possible to continue with the construction of 185 km of motorways and category I roads but also start new transportation projects. At the beginning of December construction of the 14.7km continuation of the D35 motorway in section Časy – Ostrov can start. Next year another 12.6 km of the D35 in section Opatovice nad Labem – Časy will follow. Construction of the bypass of Budweis on the D3, which involves two sections with a length of almost 20 km, can soon continue. And also the construction of the 22.6 km of two sections of the D11 extension from Hradec Králové via Smiřice to Jaroměř will continue. And last but not least, modernisation of the D1 on seven sections in a total length of 70 km will continue.

Reconstruction of the Negrelli viaduct in Prague will continue next year as well. Modernisation of the tracks from Prague towards Kladno, with a branch-off to the Václav Havel Airport, will follow this reconstruction. Modernisation of the rail line between the Prague Main Railway Station and Hostivař is also under way. Work will also continue on another section of the Fourth Transit Corridor from Prague to Budweis. Modernisation of the Sudoměřice – Votice track will bring a second track in this section, two tunnels and a new station Červený Újezd. The train speed will to up to 160 km/h, which will cut the travel time for express trains between Prague and Tábor to one hour. Construction works are expected to be completed in 2021.
]]>Wed, 17 Oct 2018 08:51:03 GMT60620465-ff55-43af-a284-1d43ca9e8351"The South-Bohemian part of the D3 motorway has progressed most. Here, works are under way on almost 19 km of the motorway itself plus another 20 km of the Budweis bypass. Construction of the D11 from Hradec Králové towards Poland, where 22.5 km of motorway are under construction, continues as well," says the Transport Minister Dan Ťok.

To be specific, a portion of the D3 motorway Bošilec - Ševětín is under construction and will be completed next year. The Ševětín - Borek section will be opened in 2020. Preparations of sections Úsilné - Hodějovice and Hodějovice - Třebonín, where bids of building companies are currently being evaluated, are under way. The motorway should hit the Austrian border in 2024.

Regarding the D6 to Karlsbad, a total of three sections with an aggregate length of 14.6 km are under construction: the Řevničov bypass, the Lubenec bypass and the Nové Strašecí - Řevničov section. All these three sections will be completed within three years and more sections will follow. The whole motorway could be completed between 2025 and 2026.
The continuation of the D11 in sections Hradec Králové - Smiřice and Smiřice - Jaroměř is also under construction. A total of 22.5 km will have been opened within three or four years. An extension of the motorway towards Poland is also in the pipeline and the motorway shall be completed between 2024 and 2025.

And there are more construction sites on the D48 motorway: in section Rybí - Rychaltice and the Frýdek-Místek bypass along with a connection to the D56. A total of 89 km have been overhauled between Prague and Brno and another 70 km will see an upgrade until 2021.

You will find the complete overview of current and scheduled works and the km counts in our interactive map at: www.mdcr.cz/mapa showing that as of today there are 177.3 km of motorways and category I roads under construction, of which 110.2 km are motorways (the D1 modernisation is 13.6 km) and 67 km are construction works on category I roads. Another 43.5 km of motorways and category I roads (of which 42 km are motorways) shall still start this year or at the beginning of next year.

First trains will ride through the Ejpovice tunnel in November

The 4km Ejpovice tunnel, the longest railway tunnel in the Czech Republic, will very soon see its completion. The first train will ride through the south tube already on November 15. From December 9, when a new time schedule comes into effect, all trains will start using both tunnel tubes, so the travel time between Prague and Pilsen will be cut by ten minutes.

One third of the reconstruction of the Negrelli viaduct, a major transportation structure in the country, is now completed. The route capacity will increase and so will the number of trains: up to 14 trains per hour will be operated here. Modernisation of the tracks from Prague towards Kladno, with a branch-off to the Václav Havel Airport, will follow this reconstruction. The entire route could be completed until 2029.

Modernisation of the rail line between the Prague Main Railway Station and Hostivař is also under way. Trains connecting Prague with South Bohemia will now use the four-track rail line. The track speed will rise to 120 km/h. The modernisation will bring convenience for passengers on long-distance trains and make travelling across the capital much easier. The 6km section should be completed in 2021.

Work also continues on another section of the Fourth Transit Corridor from Prague to Budweis. Modernisation of the Sudoměřice – Votice track will bring a second track in this section, two tunnels and a new station Červený Újezd. The train speed will to up to 160 km/h, which will cut the travel time for express trains between Prague and Tábor to one hour. Construction works are expected to be completed in 2021.

Both countries agreed to regularly consult and exchange views on their positions regarding the economic, legal, regulatory and technological aspects of the commercial utilization of space resources discussed in international fora and organizations such as the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS) and its subcommittees.

Furthermore, Luxembourg and the Czech Republic agreed to promote and to seek a constructive dialogue with other United Nations Member States with the goal to establish a clear and transparent global framework for the utilization of space resources that may lead to new scientific information and knowledge about the solar system and to valuable commercial applications.

Luxembourg’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy Etienne Schneider stated: “After the agreements signed with Portugal, Japan, China and the United Arab Emirates, this is another important step forward in enhancing international cooperation. The memorandum with the Czech Republic is yet another solid recognition of our economic development initiative SpaceResources.lu that is driven and lead by the newly created Luxembourg Space Agency to position the Grand Duchy as a European hub for the exploration and use of space resources.”

Minister of Transport of the Czech Republic Dan Ťok stated: “I consider as important that the Czech Republic actively participates in broader bilateral and multilateral discussions on how to ensure lawful utilisation of space resources for the benefit of mankind. The memorandum with Luxembourg may represent one of useful platforms to support such discussions and actions allowing to actively and efficiently contribute to establish a transparent and stable legal framework for the utilization of space resources and to mobilize necessary investments.”

]]>Wed, 10 Oct 2018 09:30:00 GMTc3ac7bca-a224-4d2f-a5c8-de93b16e338d
The D11 motorway Prague - Hradec Králové - Jaroměř - Trutnov - state border has a total length of 151.4 km according to the design. Currently the section Prague - Hradec Králové is in operation. The D11 motorway is belongs to the international road E67 Warsaw – Prague and is part of the TEN-T global network of the European transport corridor Paris – Nuremberg – Pilsen – Prague – Hradec Králové – Vratislav – Warsaw – Brest – Moscow, connecting eastern and western Europe.

"We have simplified the compulsory equipment and first aid kit content in cars. Now, drivers no longer need spare fuses, the reserve wheel, a matrix wrench and a hand jack – but only provided the car operator has an assistance service policy in place which includes the replacement of a damage tyre across the Czech Republic non-stop," says the Transport Minister Dan Ťok. Starting on October 1, the triangular scarf, patches with a pad and a plastic mouth mask do not necessarily have to be replaced after expiring.

Motorbike riders no longer need to come to emission tests, visiting the Technical Inspection Station once in four years

The new period for regular inspections at Technical Inspection Stations (STK) is now four years for bigger motorbikes (first inspection of new motorbikes after 6 years, another every 4 years). Besides mopeds, motorbikes with a weight of over 400 kg no longer need to come to emission measurements. "We made a concession to motorbike riders. Since it is their hobby in the majority of cases, they usually maintain their bikes in a very good technical condition. The practice has shown that the four-year period is sufficient for regular technical inspections," minister Ťok explains.

Sanctions for illegal cheating with mileage

The amended act on the terms and conditions of road vehicles operation also introduces sanctions of up to CZK 500,000 for mileage fraud with tachometers. "We are mostly aiming at individuals and companies who do this service repeatedly and against a payment. We have no intention to damage regular drivers who bought a car that was subject to mileage fraud," says minister Ťok and adds that mechanics who fail to issue a tachometer replacement certificate will be facing sanctions of up to CZK 50,000. If the vehicle operator fails to provide this certificate at the technical inspection, they will face sanctions up to CZK 10,000.

The Ministry of Transport has been fighting mileage fraud for years. Preparation of the https://www.kontrolatachometru.cz/ app was the first step. After entering the VIN code, the user can check the tachometer according to technical inspections. The introduction of photo documentation at the Technical Inspection Stations and Emission Measurement Stations was another step. For next year the ministry is preparing an upgrade of the information system of the Technical Inspection Stations that will automatically warn about all cases where lower mileage was detected during the technical inspection than that recorded at the previous inspection.

An isle that saves lives

Since October, drivers must create a rescue isle between the left lane and the adjacent driving lane. Only vehicles with the right of way may enter this space, including vehicles of the road administrator and vehicles needed for the removal of the consequences of the traffic accident of road obstacle. Fines of up to CZK 2500 can be imposed if the driver enters the isle without authorisation. This step also brought uniform rules with the neighbouring countries such as Germany, Austria and Slovakia who is also planning the same change.

]]>Wed, 26 Sep 2018 07:59:24 GMTadc342fa-de60-427e-93a9-cb641a636f9a

"At the Ministry we are selecting the bidders that will be invited to the competitive dialogue for the 25 years concession for DBFOM of 32 kilometers of the D4 motorway from Příbram to Písek. The companies interested in the tender are from Germany, France, Spain, but also consortia of Turkish-Italian-Dutch-Luxembourg companies or Austro-Australian-Spanish-French association. From the seven consortiums, we will now select four to participate in the competitive dialogue. In 2020, the winner could start building the whole section at once" Transport Minister Dan Ťok said.

The participants of the tender that sent their request for qualification are (in the order of the date of receipt of the RFQ):

The PPP D4 project consists of design, build, finance, operate and maintain of the 32 km missing part of D4 between Háje and Mirotice, and operation and maintenance on subsequent sections of D4 and the 1st class road #20 in the Skalka - Háje and the Mirotice – Krašovice sections. In this context, the Road and Motorways Directorate continues intensively in the investment preparation, in order to obtain building permits in a timely manner, including the provision of diagnostic works on existing sections D4 and I / 20 in order to obtain the necessary data for risk assessment by participants in the competitive dialogue.

In the Czech Republic, no PPP project in state transport infrastructure has reached this stage of preparation. "In the three to six year horizon, European funds for the constructions of motorways will be significantly reduced. Therefore, we need to prepare for other funding models, such as public-private partnerships, so-called PPPs. In the future, we would like to use this way in the sections where we have a complete zoning permits for the stretch of motorway of at least 30 km. For example: D6, D35 or Central Bohemia part of D3" Ťok added.

]]>Fri, 21 Sep 2018 08:13:48 GMT9081b9f8-51bc-4e3f-bbcc-64b9f7993967

The Ministry of Transport announces on September 28, 2018 the second Operational Programme Transportation call under a subsidy scheme for the support infrastructure for alternative fuels, targeting the construction of the so-called supplementary network of standard recharging stations. The maximum allocation is CZK 174 million under this call. The deadline for submitting applications will be February 15, 2019.

Applicants doing business in these sectors (who can provide evidence of this) can apply for the subsidy: electrical installations, power distribution, electricity trading, and/or those with experience operating at least 10 publicly accessible recharging stations and those who submit a project involving the construction of recharging stations on the Czech territory. The scope of the project depends on applicant's considerations. In this call, the maximum rate of support of eligible expenditure may be up to 70%. Economical operation, readiness and relevance are the evaluation criteria.

Another call focused on the construction of the so-called supplementary network of recharging stations will be announced next year. By the end of 2023 at least 800 recharging stations should have been built, so that the national objective, stipulated by the National Clean Mobility Action Plan, passed by the government in November 2015, will be met. This new call follows up the first call announced in January 2018 under which four applications will be supported. If these four applications are successful, there will be 132 standard recharging stations installed and supported from the Operational Programme Transportation scheme with an aggregate amount of CZK 26 million.

More information on the terms and conditions of the support under this new call can be found in the detailed documentation of the call No. 67 published on the website of the control body for the Operational Programme: Transportation: http://web.opd.cz/vyzva-67

]]>Tue, 28 Aug 2018 09:22:24 GMTe2a4edcc-40c6-4831-8685-27a00732a4d3The D1 reconstruction in front of Prague is coming to the final phase. The asphalt top cover will be completed in two weeks between km 12 and 16 of the most heavily used Czech motorway. In September and October three more modernised D1 sections will be opened as well, so almost 90 km of the D1 motorway will have been repaired and modernised.

"I checked how the reconstruction work progresses at km 15 of the D1 motorway. About 90 000 cars pass this point every day. A have good news for all drivers: works follow the schedule and will be completed on August 31, the restrictions will be removed and from Saturday Oct 1 on drivers can start using the new section without restrictions," says the transport minister Dan Ťok.

Eurovia is the contractor for the road surface repair and will return to the D1 near Prague next April and start repairing the left section of the motorway between km 9.5 and km 12. The whole reconstruction will cost CZK 250 million excl. VAT.

Two more sections on the D1 will open for drivers during September, the construction of which is done during motorway operation: section No. 10 between Hořice and Koberovice and section No. 20 at Velké Meziříčí and Lhotka. And in October also section No. 4 between Ostředek and Šternov will be opened.

"It is still this year that we are opening another 19.5 km of the modernised D1 – this means that 13 sections out of 20 are completed now, i.e almost 90 km of the new D1," minister Ťok adds.

The total cost of the D1 modernisation before the tenders started in 2013 was estimated at CZK 24 billion and we are currently at CZK 20 billion. RSD wants to have all sections modernised by 2021. At present there are 69 km of the modernised D1 motorway in operation and 33 under reconstruction.

]]>Fri, 17 Aug 2018 13:17:22 GMTa0ccb836-adc5-494f-afef-d0e0fd1591c1If the car mechanic does not issue a certificate when repairing or replacing the tachometer and does not submit the certificate to the vehicle holder, a sanction up to CZK 50,000 may be assessed. If the vehicle holder does not submit the tachometer repair or replacement certificate to the Technical Inspection Station with the next inspection, he/she may face a penalty up to CZK 10,000. Changing a record of the actual mileage on the km counter may lead to a penalty of up to CZK 500,000 for any natural person or legal entity.

"Anybody who illegally reduces the mileage will face the half-a-million sanction. But this sanction shall mostly apply to individuals and companies doing this against a fee. We do not intend to damage drivers who just buy a car which was subject to mileage fraud. This is my appeal to all those intending to buy a car: check the car properly," says the transport minister Dan Ťok.

In practise, the tachometer status is recorded during the technical inspection at Technical Inspection Stations or Emission Measurement Stations and also the police can find out such an offence during the technical road inspection. If lower mileage is found on the tachometer during the technical inspection than that recorded at the last inspection, then the holder of such a vehicle has 30 days to remove such a serious defect (type B). During this period, he/she must provide a valid km counter repair or replacement certificate, otherwise the vehicle will lose its technical fitness.

If a company or natural person who did the repair or replaced the counter fails to issue the certificate, he/she/it will face a sanction of up to CZK 50,000. If the tachometer mileage was illegally reduced, then the individual or company who did this fraud will face a penalty up to CZK 500,000. "We have been actively addressing fraud connected with mileage reduction for many years. The first step was the kontrolatachometru.cz app, followed by the introduction of photodocumentation at Technical Inspection Stations and Emission Measurement Stations. For next year we are preparing an upgrade of the information system of the Technical Inspection Stations that will automatically warn about all cases where lower mileage was detected during the technical inspection than that recorded at the previous inspection," adds the minister of transport Dan Ťok.

Drivers can check the free public database www.kontrolatachometru.cz where they can find out the tachometer status recorded at the last technical inspection and previous visits to the Technical Inspection Stations. Offences connected with mileage reduction are handled by regional authorities and the Ministry of Transport is the appeal body; applies to vehicle inspected after January 1, 2016 since when compulsory photodocumentation was introduced and the offence must have been committed after October 1, 2018. Citizens suspecting a mileage fraud on their vehicle may also report the matter to the police or municipality with extended powers.

]]>Fri, 17 Aug 2018 07:41:02 GMTec8e9594-4e03-4ec5-941e-09b7d8250d17

"We need to align the Czech rules with Germany, Austria and (soon) Slovakia. Plus every driver should, like in the neighbouring countries, learn how to create the rescue isle already when entering the traffic jam from the back," says the transport minister Dan Ťok.

Now, cars must go aside to the right if driving in the middle or right lane and to the left if in the fast lane. The rescue isle will be therefore created in the middle lane.

"Only vehicles with the right of way may enter this space, including road administrator's vehicles and vehicles needed for removing the consequences of the traffic accident or road obstacle," the amendment says. Any unauthorised entry of the isle may be subject to a penalty up to CZK 2500. It is also important that drivers create the isle on time, i.e. already when making their way slowly through the traffic jam. Once the car has stopped, it is more difficult to go aside when the rescue vehicle is approaching from the back.

This amendment passed by the Senate also allows the vehicles of the Integrated Rescue System using the red beacon for better visibility. The changes shall apply from October after being signed by the president. BESIP will demonstrate to the drivers how to create the rescue isle and explain why it is so important for the rescue vehicles.
§ 41 par. 8 of the road traffic act:

"If the motorway or road with at least two lanes is not freely passable due to a traffic jam consisting of standing or slowly moving vehicles, drivers are obliged to create space between the driving lanes for the passage of vehicles with the right of way. To do this, drivers are allowed to enter the road shoulder of middle dividing lane. If there are more than two driving lanes in the same direction, this space shall be created between the lane which is the last on the left and the adjacent lane. Only vehicles with the right of way may enter this space, including vehicles of the road administrator and vehicles needed for the removal of the consequences of the traffic accident of road obstacle."

]]>Wed, 15 Aug 2018 09:48:05 GMT09d71d4e-e1d0-4783-8afe-999756308a82
"The railway plays an important role in metropolitan transportation. Its significance will increase further after the completion of this project in with a four-rail track will be built in the area of the former marshalling yard in Vršovice. This project follows up the modernisation of the Prague-Hostivař station and work is also under way on another section of the fourth corridor between Sudoměřice by Tábor and Votice. It will only take a few years and we can go to the south on a continuous, modernised section from Planá nad Lužnicí in the Tábor region to the Vršovice station in Prague," said the minister of transport Dan Ťok.

"The new station in Zahradní Město and the Eden stop, situated close to the Prague Slavia football stadium, will become major hubs where passengers will change for public transportation. The platforms in Zahradní Město will lie directly above the extended underpass in street Průběžná where tram stops will be situated," the RIA CEO Jiří Svoboda lists the benefits. He adds that the existing track via Strašnice will be cancelled and its structure used for other purposes in the future.

The station in Vršovice will undergo a major transformation. A modern platform at a standard height of 550 mm above the rails will significantly improve passenger experience and provide barrier-free access to trains. The residents of Nusle will appreciate the extension of the existing underpass underneath the entire rail area of the station towards street Bartoškova. Access from the platforms to the space in front of the station will be an innovation.

Preparatory works are under way in 2018: mostly the demolition of bridges (in streets V Korytech and U Vršovického hřbitova) and road closures that are mostly scheduled for weekends. The passengers will therefore not face any serious complications yet.

The entire project will entail some shorter operation interruptions. The first continuous three-day closure in the direction to Malešice – Vršovice is scheduled for the first quarter of 2019. Further restrictions will apply during the further stages in station Praha-Vršovice since the spring of 2019 according to the construction schedule of the underpass extension and rails and bridges construction. A three-week closure of the tram line between street Průběžná and Zahradní Město is needed for the demolition of the railway bridge.

The project called "Optimisation of Track Section Prague Hostivař – Praha main railway station Part II – Prague Hostivař – Praha main railways station" is co-funded by the EU from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) programme. The expected construction costs are CZK 4 419 960 495. The EU support totals 82.14% of eligible costs, so the maximum subsidy is EUR 110 309 931, i.e. about CZK 3 billion. National funding is provided by the State Fund for Transport Infrastructure. The companies Metrostav, Swietelsky Rail CZ and SMP CZ are the contractors. The length of the section to be straightened is 6070 m.

]]>Wed, 15 Aug 2018 09:01:54 GMT553efd05-0dcc-4e74-add9-46d7f877246c
This is the first of the four modernised sections to be opened during the next two months. Sections Velké Meziříčí – Lhotka, Hořice – Koberovice (both will be opened in September) and Ostředek – Šternov (to be opened in October) will follow. The total length of these sections is 20.35 km. This means that at the end of 2018 drivers will have 90 km of the D1 motorway modernised, i.e. 13 sections out of 20 will be completed and two under construction.

]]>Mon, 13 Aug 2018 16:22:59 GMT083360e8-ceff-4a58-ab4b-2f11777000d0"It has become useless to carry light bulbs and fuses in the car. Drivers of modern cars have such a replacement done in the service anyway. Following an agreement with the Ministry of Health, we decided that a first air box without the mask and patch with a pad is sufficient and can also be expired," explains the minister of transport Dan Ťok. Scissors, which were not often used anyway according to the ministry and are hence dispensable, can now be also missing in the first aid kit.

The amendment to decree No. 341/2014 Coll. on the approval of technical fitness for road traffic also simplifies and refines the duty of having a spare wheel in the vehicle and a set for replacing the wheel (a hand jack).

"Vehicles with tyres allowing the car to reach a workshop in the event of a tyre defect and indicating the defect do not need to have a spare wheel. The vehicles can also have the quick fix set for the damaged tyre instead of a reserve wheel. The third exception are vehicles covered by assistance service, providing wheel replacement or tyre repair on the spot across the Czech Republic," the minister adds.

After being negotiated by the government's council for legal affairs, the proposed changes to the decree shall be effective from October 1, 2018.

New wording of the decree stipulating compulsory vehicle equipment

Compulsory vehicle equipment

a spare wheel, i.e. rim with tyre attached sufficiently to the bracket ensuring that the force arising from taking the wheel off the bracket or placing the wheel into the bracket will not exceed 490 N; if more wheel dimensions are used on the vehicle, it must be possible to use the spare wheel for all such dimensions or the vehicle must be equipped with spare wheels for all dimensions,

nut key or vehicle wheel screws and

hand-held jack with a load bearing capacity equalling at least the biggest technically permissible weight per axle of the most loaded vehicle axle or vehicle system, or equalling the weight of the vehicle part being lifted from the biggest technically permissible vehicle weight when lifting this part in a way stipulated by the manufacturer for using a jack.

2. A spare wheel and accessories needed for wheel replacement is the compulsory equipment in vehicle categories M, N, O and R, with the exception of

vehicles where all wheels are fitted with tyres of a special design and defect indication allowing an emergency ride with the defect,

vehicles equipped with means for repairing the damaged tyre without disassembly, allowing an emergency ride,

vehicles with corresponding contractual coverage based on which the damaged tyre will be repaired at any moment across the Czech Republic,

city buses, fire rescue vehicles and garbage trucks operating in a limited area within the operating range of the service of its provider, trailers of categories O1 or R1, fire trailers or R category trainers operated in a limited area within the oprating range of the service of its provider or

vehicles belonging to a vehicle system if another vehicle of the same system is equipped with a spare wheel of the same dimension, design and accessories needed for wheel replacement.

Note: the first aid car kit of size III can be replaced by two size II kits

(hereafter only "first aid car kit").

2. Motorist's first aid kit must be part of L category vehicle equipment, except for mopeds or motorised bikes.

3. The first aid car kit must be part of vehicle equipment except for L category vehicles, single-axle tractors with a trailer or motorised trailers:

vehicles for mass transportation of people with more than 80 passengers of size III; for city public transportation vehicles a first aid car kit of size II is sufficient,

vehicle for mass transportation of people with up to including 80 passengers of size II,

any other size I motor vehicle with at least four wheels.

4. Fire rescue vehicles must be equipped with the corresponding type of first aid kit stipulated by another legal regulation4).

5. The contents of the first aid kit are placed in a separate case. The first air kit is placed in the vehicle in a place with no daylight. The storage compartment for the first air kit must be dry and clean and easy to access. In vehicles for mass transportation of people the first aid kit is placed in a designated and accessible place inside the vehicle intended for passengers.

Warning triangle

The warning triangle is a piece of compulsory equipment in vehicles approved according to regulation No. 27 of the Economic Commission for Europe except for category L and Z vehicles, single-axle tractors with a trailer and vehicles with a total width of less than 1 m.

Fire extinguisher

1. The fire extinguisher means a fire extinguisher with corresponding extinguishing power in accordance with the applicable technical regulation5). The fire extinguisher must be assessed by a certified person for product compliance7).

2. Vehicles of categories M2, M3 or ambulances must be equipped with a fire extinguisher:

vehicles of categories M2 or M3 with maximum 22 seats for the transportation of people except for the driver seat must be equipped with one or more fire extinguishers with minimum extinguishing power 21 A or 113 B,

any other vehicles of categories M2 or M3 must be equipped with one or several fire extinguishers with minimum extinguishing power 43 A or 183 B or with a fire extinguisher in accordance with regulation No. 107 of the Economic Commission for Europe,

ambulances must be equipped with a fire extinguishers with extinguishing power 34 B.

3. The fire extinguisher is attached in the vehicle in a designated bracket in the vertical or horizontal direction in a way ensuring that it can safely withstand acceleration of at least 6 g in the direction of the front crash of the vehicle and is placed in a well visible and easily accessible place, and one fire extinguisher is installed immediately next to the driver position.

]]>Thu, 09 Aug 2018 10:11:39 GMT0350f329-4488-4f54-be76-a88fed6cdb7b"The cancellation of the problematic crossing, construction of an underpass and a new road for trucks will finally solve the situation in a place where three people died in 2015 and many were seriously injured. The RIA has preliminarily selected eight similar places where multi-level crossings will be built during the next years, improving safety on the railway," says the minister of transport Dan Ťok.

The crossing in Studénka saw an extremely serious accident in July 2015, but there are seven more dangerous places where the RIA is working on a plan to rebuild the crossing and has been working on the Zoning Permit Design. The preparation and award of the building permit and contractor selection can take several years. Besides the necessary change of the urban development plan of the town of Studénka which the town representatives will also discuss at their meeting in the second half of 2018, the RIA must still acquire eight land plots that have two private owners. When acquired, the condition of the town for the approval of the urban development plan amendment will be met. After that the RIA can apply for the legally effective zoning permit with the competent building authority and start work on the civil design. If the design preparation runs smoothly and all necessary legal steps have been taken, construction could start in 2020.

The primary objective is to cancel the level crossing of the rail line with the road. A new underpass will be built instead. Its clear height was discussed with the Integrated Rescue System representatives, the road owner and administrator and the town of Studénka. The clear height of 3.7m was chosen for the underpass which will deliberately prevent trucks from passing through. A road will be reclassified after construction completion from a category III road to a "local road". Heavy trucks will be diverted outside road III/46427. The replacement route for trucks will be road II/464 and the D1 motorway. Access to the commercial zone will be provided from road II/464 via street Butovická on a new access road. The design also covers the relocation of road III/46427, placing the crossing with street R. Tomáška farther to reach the legally required distance from the crossing. The new connection with the commercial zone will take trucks away from street R. Tomáška, so restrictions will of course apply to trucks all over the town.

"Should the multi-level crossing is built in Studénka, we have to buy a lot of land and build a by-pass route for trucks. The new road for trucks will not only make railway traffic safer, but reduce the intensity of transit traffic in the town and so improve the quality of life for local residents. Having studied the project plan, my estimation of the costs is about CZK 700 million," says the RIA CEO Jiří Svoboda.

The construction of the multi-level crossings is not the only way to improve safety for trains and cars. Modernisation and reconstruction of existing railway crossings is another method. Cooperating the Police of the Czech Republic and the Railway Authority, the RIA selects dozens of railway crossings every year as candidates for modernisation and safety improvements. Most of them are crossings where there have been repeated accidents, or crossings equipped with the most out-of-date safety systems of warning crosses only. Since the beginning of 2018 eight crossings, that had been equipped only with warning crosses, have been equipped with a safety system. Another eleven crossings which already had red lights were upgraded and bars were added. The RIA plans to invest CZK 814 million in different methods of safety improvement on 82 level crossings in 2018. The RIA seeks to reduce the number of crossing as such. In 2017 they managed to cancel 16 crossings, most of which were field road crossings or single-purpose crossings only.

The RIA has also been working on the reconstruction of seven level crossings which is now in a different semi-completion stage. On route Břeclav - Přerov this applies to three crossings in Halenkovice, Rohatec, Napajedla and Žlutava where the expected construction period is in 2021 - 2022. For 2020 - 2021 the reconstruction of conventional crossings on these routes is foreseen: Česká Třebová - Praha with a level crossing in Uhersko. Another multi-level crossing is under preparation on route Přerov - Bohumín, specifically in Polanka nad Odrou, and a railway overpass will replace the conventional crossing on route Přerov - Olomouc in the city part of Olomouc-Holice.

]]>Fri, 20 Jul 2018 07:51:25 GMTbb4aadd9-1167-4e5c-8a96-196a9d3442df"We are preparing an international agreement on the construction of a new railway connection between Ústí nad Labem and Dresden which will govern the joint cross-border tunnel through the Krušné hory mountains. At the same time, we want to integrate this high-speed rail line into the TEN-T network," says the Czech minister of transport after the meeting.

A Czech-German Expert Group was set up in Berlin in May which negotiated the plan of operating the cross-border tunnel according to German regulations. The RIA cooperates with Deutsche Bahn Netz on the tunnel design. A joint agreement shall be drafted until the end of 2018, governing the next steps in the preparation of the cross-border section and counting the resources needed for preparation in 2019 and 2020.

"The route from Pilsen to Munich via Domažlice and Furth im Wald is another priority railway connection. It is still this year that the tunnels between Pilsen and Rokycany will open," minister Ťok added. The reconstruction of route Pilsen – Domažlice – state border in a length of approx. 70 km shall raise the track speed up to 200 km/h and reduce the travel time from Prague to Munich to less than four hours.

The ministers were discussing other topics as well, such as the need for building the Děčín Navigation Level, allowing navigation on the Labe river, and cross-border cooperation projects in the testing of self-driving vehicles. Minister Ťok also invited the federal minister Scheuer to Prague to an official visit.

"We are implementing the government decisions from 2002 and 2015 in which it was decided that the Brno railway junction shall be moved. On top of this, the City of Brno and the South Moravian Region have also agreed on this. After about 72 years we have reached an agreement on how to proceed. But the discussion must not stop, we must work hard," said the minister of transport Dan Ťok.

The Central Commission of the Ministry of Transportation chose the so-called River Variant for the Brno Railway Junction on May 30. It made this decision after studying the Feasibility Study and reviewing opinions of experts and railways operators, statements of affected towns and the region, the RIA and the Steering Committee for the Brno Railway Junction.

"As this is a big investment, I will provide further materials and information to the government, showing where exactly the money shall be invested to ensure this investment will be efficient," minister Ťok added. The total investment costs excluding VAT are about CZK 43.1 billion, of which CZK 40.8 billion is the railway part and 2.3 billion is the connecting urban infrastructure.

The government was also notified that the RIA will prepare the Technical and Financial Assessment of the modifications needed for higher capacity and stability of the Traffic Prognosis of freight transport in the selected Variant before they assign the next design level.

When preparing this document, the RIA must take into account, among other things, the merging of passenger and freight trains into a single multi-corridor, collisions in the direction towards the Brno-Maloměřice station and the servicing of the Brno Terminal. The technical solution must also allow the possible construction of the so-called North-South Urban Train in Brno.

]]>Tue, 10 Jul 2018 08:35:09 GMTdc803981-d1ff-49b0-9403-4e47b2453d46

"The relocated road is very interesting from the technical point of view. We must realise that this is not a green-field project, but a structure lying within a city. This means that the project was facing many challenges such as significantly different routes of utilities and sand beddings, which brought many troubles with the road construction subject to stringent quality regulations. Many illegal dump sites, which somebody set up on the construction sites, had to be removed. Let me thank the contractor for its huge efforts to complete the project despite all these challenges", said the RSD CEO Jan Kroupa at the opening ceremony.

With the road in a new position, the traffic intensity in the commercial zone has decreased, safety has improved and the traffic is now smoother. Noise and emissions in the residential zone have also dropped. The entire section lies within the city of Děčín, so there is a speed limit of 50 km/h.

.

Road I/62 is the most frequently used road connecting the cities of Ústí nad Labem and Děčín. This road in the new position has great significance for this intercity connection and is, together with road I/13, part of the international route E442 – an important connection between regional centres and the industrial agglomeration of the regions of Karlovy Vary, Ústí nad Labem and Liberec.

]]>Mon, 09 Jul 2018 14:49:21 GMT3e8bd0fe-793b-4b6d-b406-65e8bfc15dc5Starting in July, all basic changes regarding the driving licence can be arranged in the closest municipal department with extended powers. This principle applies: The driver picks up the driving licence in the same department where he/she applied for it. You can find the list of all municipal departments on the interactive map of the Ministry of Transport.

Partial relaxing of local competence

"Applicants can now get their first driving licence at the closest municipal authority if they have passed the final exam at the driving school. Local authorities now have even more powers such as the replacement of an expired or invalid licence, issuance of the memory card for the digital tachograph and the international driving licence. Nobody has to travel to his/her place of permanent residence any more like it has been so far," explains the transport minister deputy Ladislav Němec and adds: "They will also help you here if you want to change your family name after your wedding, if you have lost your licence or when your licence has been damaged or stolen."

The system will get photos from other registers and/or the worker at the desk will make a photo of the applicant

Applicants have been required to bring their own photos to the authority. This is now a matter of the past.

"We have equipped all municipalities with extended powers with cameras which will take a photo of the applicant directly at the desk. They also have tablets where the applicant enters his/her digital signature. This is now the end printed driving licence applications," explains Stanislav Dvořák, head of the Driver Agenda Section at the Ministry of Transport.

No photo of the applicant will be needed in some cases. The system of the Ministry of Transport will send a query to the system of the Interior Ministry asking whether the applicant already has a digital photo from his/her passport or ID card. If such a photo can be used (it is available and still resembles the applicant), no photo shooting at the desk will be necessary.

The only exception when a paper photo will be still needed is the application for the international driving licence, because the format is strictly designed by international agreements.

A change in the place of residence has no impact on the driving licence

When the place of residence changed, the driver was obliged to report such a change to the authority which subsequently issued a new licence. This duty no longer applies. Starting in July, the driving licence will no longer contain information on the place of residence. This also applies to existing, valid driving licences.

Exceptions when the applicant must visit the authority in the place of his/her residence

Some situations will still require that the applicant comes to the authority with extended power in the place of his/her residence. This will happen when the driving licence has been taken or shall be returned by the police, when driving restrictions apply or for other situations not directly connected with the records kept by the municipality with extended powers in the place of the driver's residence.

Municipalities with extended powers must prepare the the change, so they will close for one and a half days

"Municipalities with extended powers must prepare for the transition to the new system, which is why on Friday June 29 they will closed for the whole day and on Thursday 28 July they will closed for the afternoon, i.e. no driving licence applications or applications for driver's professional competence certificates can be handled. We are pointing this out in advance, so that nobody is surprised. Do not leave your driving licence stuff for the last two working days in July," warns Jan Paroubek, head of the Driving Applications and Technology Section of the state enterprise Cendis, and adds: "From July 2 the State Printing Works of Securities will no longer accept applications with printed photos. Everything will be done in the electronic way. Therefore, the municipalities must process until the end of the month all the printed applications they have accepted."

Changes to administrative fees

The replacement of an expired driving licence will be free of charge like it has been.

The fee for the issuance of the new licence rises from CZK 50 to CZK 200. Also the fee for accelerated issuance of the licence within five working days rises from CZK 500 to CZK 700. "The driving licence issuance fee has been the same for many years. We paid CZK 20 for the pink books issued before 1898 and at the beginning of 1993 the price was raised to the current CZK 50. This means that the fee for the driving licence issuance has not changed for more than 25 years. It driving licence issuance will now cost a bit more, but this higher fee will be compensated by higher convenience. Applicants do not need to come with a printed photo and do not have to travel to the location of their place of permanent residence any more, which for some people meant taking a day off," says Stanislav Dvořák.

Preparations and system testing

No new information system had to be procured as a result of the more relaxed driving agenda, but the existing Central Registry of Drivers was upgraded and the digital tachograph system modified.

The state enterprise Cendis obtained the required equipment for the municipalities. "The offices of the municipalities with extended powers are now ready in terms of the new technology. The new systems have been tested since the beginning of June, so that everything is up and running in July. We have trained all staff from the whole country very thoroughly, demonstrated the system to them and answered questions from practice," added Jan Paroubek.

How are driving licences made?

Driving licences have many security features and are centrally personalised, which is why they must be made in the State Printing Works of Securities. "They are made under strict conditions defined by the national or international legislation. The production quality of Czech driving licences is the world top quality. Thousands of driving licences are made every day and this year up to 5 000 units are made every day," explains Ondřej Hyršl, head of production in the State Printing Works of Securities.

Driving licences are personalised by laser engraving to polycarbonate cards with specific design and receive a number of security features. The positive relief coining on both sides of the licence, the changing image in the right bottom corner of the front side, the visually changing logo print with "CZ" letters, etc. are just some examples. But also this driving licence design has undergone a development since 2004. To be specific, we added another security feature last year: tactile engraving of some items on both card sides.

Questions from driving licence applicants

Does the validity period change for newly issued driving licences?

No, these changes have no impact on the validity period. This means that the driving licence expires after ten years for motorcycle drivers, car drivers and others. Drivers with the authorisation to drive a truck or bus must replace their cards every five years.

How long does it take to get the new driving licence?

The standard period is 20 days since application submission. If you however need the driving licence faster for whatever reason, you can apply for an accelerated issuance within five working days. It will just cost you more. Those who apply for the driving licence for the first time (those who have just passed the driving school exams) cannot make use of the shorter, five-day period. The reason is that the administration with the first driving licence is more complex.

Do I need a new driving licence after changing my family name?

One of the situations when the driver does need to visit the authority to change the licence is the change of name. In this situation, the driving licence needs to be replaced and the same applies to all other documents.

]]>Wed, 27 Jun 2018 09:36:21 GMT0c7294d6-e3f8-4d0a-af0f-a141c15e1086
We will adopt rules for regional transport infrastructure funding (category II and III roads) through the State Fund for Transport Infrastructure (SFDI) with the aim of providing CZK 4 billion of funds p.a.

We will intensify the construction of motorways on all main routes, particularly D1, D3, D4, D6, D7, D11, D35, D48, D49, D52 and D55 and complete the full modernisation of the D1 motorway between Prague and Brno.

By 2021 we will have opened 210 km of motorways, of which 110 km will be new motorways and 100 km will be the modernised D1. By 2021 we will have started with the construction of another 180 km of motorways.

Towns on category I roads must have bypasses, so that transit traffic does not pass through their centres. On category I roads we will build 130 km of bypasses that will relieve towns and municipalities heavily affected by traffic. This includes, among other things, bypasses or their other sections around Slaný, Ostrava-Poruba, Hradec Králové, Otrokovice, Frýdek-Místek, Klatovy, Jaroměř, Znojmo, Břeclav, Strakonice, Opava, Karviná and many others. By 2021 we will begin building the key part of the Prague ring road D0 511 between Běchovice and D1. We will obtain planning permits for the 518 and 519 projects between Ruzyně and Březiněves and we will obtain the positive EIA statement for the 520 Březiněves – Satalice project.

We will involve private investors in the construction of the transport infrastructure in the form of the public-private partnership (PPP). By implementing the pilot PPP project, we will ensure the extension and further operation of the unfinished section of the D4 motorway. Based on our experience with the project, this procedure will be used for other motorways as well (e.g. D7, D6, D3 or D35).

No later than in 2010 we will have solved the electronic toll for trucks over 3.5 t. Further extension of the toll system does must not be done for financial reasons, but it must be the traffic regulation tool as well. If alternate roads start being used and suffer damage because trucks will start bypassing a paid section, we will pass legislation allowing municipalities and regional departments to regulate transit traffic to prevent even more damage to roads nearby buildings and mitigate the risk for pedestrians and other road users.

We will make it easier for citizens to communicate with the state administration in the area of vehicle registration and in other registers in the transportation sector. Following the amendment to the act which has already been passed, we will make sure that every driver will be able to get his/her driving license even outside his/her permanent place of residence in any office with extended powers, without the need for completing unnecessary forms and coming with his/her own photograph. After introducing ID cards with a chip, everything can be handled from home.

Instead of motorway stickers we will introduce an electronic motorway coupon that can be purchased through a mobile app or on the Internet.

Safety will be among our priorities. The growing intensity of road traffic and modern and fast vehicles combined with new influences require even better prevention and awareness. In this respect we want to focus, among other things, on the youngest drivers who must not pose a fatal threat for themselves and others. We will pass legislation allowing a temporary driving licence with a limited two-year validity during which the young drivers will have to go through trainings to improve their driving skills and abilities, so they can handle crisis situations.

The government will introduce significant discounts on train and bus fares for senior citizens aged over 65 and for pupils and students up to 26 years of age.

We will create the conditions for cross-sectoral cooperation in freight transport, so that railway and water transport provide services for road hauliers. This means that we will take EU resources to support the development of combined transport terminals. The aim is to create a container transshipment point that will ensure that only the initial collection and final distribution takes place on the road. The longer travel on the transport route should be by rail or by water.

The state-guaranteed public passenger railway transport will be ensured in a minimum scope of CZK 7.4 billion p.a., which represents almost 37 million train km per year on 28 long-distance lines. Our objective is to improve the quality of our service and travelling culture through systematic support of car fleet renewal, and use of modern information systems and technologies.

We will continue with the liberalisation on the railway market. Liberalisation and the arrival of competitors in the railway passenger sector must be gradual and take into account the fact that Czech Railways are burdened with the cost of overhead fares and also provide the service of less attractive remote or regional lines subject to a public service. Czech Railways, the national provider, must be effectively controlled and act as a non-political entity.

We will repair at least sixty major station buildings for greater passenger comfort. This include for example the railway station in Most, Prague-Smíchov or Křižanov. The unused space of the station buildings will be offered for use to the public administration or commercial entities.

We will support the development of parking capacity around railway stations (P+R) in cooperation with municipalities. We will support the development of the cycling infrastructure (B+R) not only by railway stations but also bus stops.

We want to create a uniform integrated transportation system based on the principle of a single ticket and uniform transportation rules. All this regardless of which transportation company the passenger uses.

We will continue with the modernisation of national and regional railway lines, including electrification of important non-electrified lines where this makes sense. Even railways must be made safer, so we want to focus on railway crossings and the introduction of ETCS is our priority. By the end of the election period, we will fix the routes of the high-speed railway lines, as foreseen, in the zoning and planning documentation of the regions and progress with design preparation. Feasibility studies will be prepared for the most essential connections. The priority axes are Berlin – Dresden – Ústí nad Labem – Prague, Prague – Brno – Břeclav and Brno – Přerov – Ostrava. For the railway connection Prague-Kladno with a turning to the Václav Havel airport we will get the planning decision and progress significantly with the property preparation, and for some parts we will obtain the building permit.

By approving the Water Transport Concept, finalising the EIA processes and starting the planning proceedings for the implementation of navigation levels Děčín and Přelouč, we will have come closer to the creation of sufficient navigation conditions on the Elbe-Vltava waterway.

The government will decide on the next steps after the completion of the feasibility study for the Danube-Odra-Elbe waterway project, now in progress.

]]>Wed, 27 Jun 2018 06:57:15 GMT2359481a-d109-4a97-99e4-f5eb46ee13f5

"We recommend everybody going on a holiday to plan the route and check where he/she can expect problems and which sections to avoid, so that the driver does not get confused on the spot and does not improvise. Our interactive map on our website shall help you. Going on the holiday is not like racing," said the transport minister Dan Ťok at a press conference.

Very sad statistics

The statistics speak a very sad language. Most people die in July and August on the roads. One fifth of all people are killed or heavily injured during the summer holiday. Even when we could see a falling trend in fatal accidents, this is a very risky period: in 2017 it was 101 people who died on the roads. So who are the most vulnerable groups? It is children, cyclists and motorcyclists.
Lack of attention is among the most frequent causes of accidents

Traffic intensity, traffic restrictions and stress we have carried from our workplace unfortunately negatively affect the road situation. But there are things we can affect ourselves. According to statistics and a sociological research within the "Nepozornostzabiji" campaign ("lack of attention will kill you") of the Czech association of insurance companies, including BESIP and the Czech Police, lack of attention while driving is the one of the most frequent causes of accidents, followed by situations when the driver is handling his/her phone and other communication devices, navigation, etc. The penalty points system shows that holding the phone while driving is the third most frequent traffic offence. Last year there we about 50 000 such offences – and this only includes cases which the police classified as such, just imagine how many more there are ...). "Up to one third of drivers admit they are sending SMS or chatting while driving, which is a true warning," said Tomáš Neřold.

Once the summer holidays are starting, we must mention that fatigue leads to lack of attention and accidents. Fatigue makes up to 6.8% and lack of knowledge of the route about 6% for men.

]]>Tue, 26 Jun 2018 11:17:21 GMTbf81bcd5-edd5-4f38-9fda-2739150e252b
Stricter rules were originally supposed to apply to truck drivers sent to a different country. Countries like France, Belgium and Germany – those who decided to protect themselves against cheaper competitors from Central and Eastern Europe – required a change. She regards the compromise achieved in the special regulation for the road traffic sector from last week, which also reflects the interests of the Czech Republic, as successful. "A balanced compromise was achieve last week that can be applied in practice and that will finally provide social protection and decent conditions for truck drivers, maintain competition on the single market and even boost the market. Now, however, we are back with restricting and undermining the freedom on the single market," she added.

The MEPs stopped the TRAN vote today and thus prevented the social aspects of the package going directly into the three-party negotiations between the EP, the Commission and the Council. The text must now go through the vote of the entire range again and face change proposals that may significantly affect the optimistic prospects of a balanced regulation.

Long disputes will still accompany the road package, evidence of which are the negotiations on the level of the EU Council which met by the end of last week. The Czech transport minister Dan Ťok came to defend the rights of Czech shipping businesses to the meeting of ministers. "It's time to close the long-year disputes on social dumping and protectionist policies. The Czech Republic will continue acting as a reasonable partner and seek dialogue with the western states to find a compromise acceptable for everyone," said the transport minister in Luxembourg. The member states did not find any agreement and the Council position was postponed.

The western states are obviously not interested in dialogue and have been obstructing any and all efforts of countries from Central and Eastern Europe who have already made many concessions. "We see no will among your west-European colleagues to solve the chaotic situation on the market. They are hiding their efforts to expel our shipping businesses from their markets behind their alleged care of the good of drivers. But they fail to realise that they are actually achieving the opposite and threaten the free market. I am very sorry to see that the discussion on the road package turned into pure political fight. We must realise that not only drivers and shipping businesses are at stake, but this is about the principle, the future of Europe and preservation of Europe's interests," Dlabajová closed her criticism.

]]>Thu, 14 Jun 2018 10:58:20 GMT7ae6ba07-a2d7-42eb-b3ac-424137590415
The EU has been long divided over the topic of sending drivers abroad. The priority for the Czech Republic does not change: rules for sending workers abroad shall be taken out of international road traffic rules as much as possible. The case of the Czech driver who won the litigation in Germany and had his salary levelled out with the local rates may be the precedence for more disputes that may eventually affect big corporations who are ordering shipping to abroad.

"On top of that, if the new rules are too strict for the shipping businesses, they will start bypassing them, e.g. through the Schwarzsystem. The thing is that self-employed drivers are exempt from the rules," minister Dan Ťok adds.

The ministers also discussed connectivity in air transport where they managed to reach an agreement on the protection of competition in the air transport industry, allowing the EU to accept corrective measures in instances when an EU airline was damaged by a third country. Other topics included the drawing-down of the new CEF II scheme for 2021-2027 in which EUR 30.6 billion were allocated for transportation projects.

The Council also discussed the rights and duties of railway passengers, the support of combined transport and use of clean vehicles in the public sector.

]]>Fri, 08 Jun 2018 13:37:41 GMTe7417ba7-6df6-428f-a78e-ee4b074603c6
"The modernisation of the railway connection between the Central and South Bohemian Regions is exceptional due to its scope and technical challenges. At a time when almost no underground civil structures are under construction in the Czech Republic, the twin tunnels with a length of 1.5km are an important piece of civil work. And it will be the tunnels that will significantly reduce the travel time from Prague to South Bohemia, said the RIA CEO Jiří Svoboda.

OHL ŽS is the building contractor. "This construction project means for us that we can continue our long tradition of railway construction, apply our great experience in the construction of corridor projects and use our staff and machines in such essential domains as the railway superstructure and substructure, bridges, tunnels and roads.“ said the OHL ŽS CEO Roman Kocúrek.

A significant portion of the Sudoměřice – Votice route will leave the existing footprint, which shortens the distance by two km. The construction workers will build two tunnels – Mezno with a length of 840 m and Deboreč with 660 m. The existing stations Střezimíř, Ješetice and Heřmaničky will be consolidated into a single station Červený Újezd. Stops Mezno, Střezimíř, Červený Újezd, Ješetice and Heřmaničky will be added. Three long bridge estacades will be built in the deep valley between stops Ješetice and Heřmaničky. The longest of them will have 244 m.

The construction work started on May 1. Since then, plants have been cut, site equipment installed and access roads set up in the future route. Cut-and-covered and driven parts will be built during the next months on both new tunnels. Consolidation embankments will be made around the supports of the future estacades and small bridges will be built.

There will be only short (one-day) route closures during 2018. Specifically, this will happen in September and November when support buses will start operating in section Chotoviny – Olbramovice. A four-day closure is scheduled for March and April of 2019. In the spring of 2021 the section will be closed for one more week.

The total investment costs of project "Modernisation of the Sudoměřice – Votice Route" amount to CZK 7 159 049 000 excl. VAT. The application for co-funding of this project from the EU Cohesion Fund Operational Programme Transportation 2014–2020 was submitted by the end of 2017 to the EU. If approved, the EU can contribute up to CZK 5 151 794 403. National funding is provided by the State Fund for Transport Infrastructure.

Name of project

Modernisation of the Sudoměřice – Votice route

Investor

Railway Administration Authority, state organisation

Contractor

OHL ŽS

Length

19.9 km

New switches

13 units

Railway bridges, culverts and underpasses

48 units

Length of noise protection walls

2 205 m

Commencement

03/2018

Completion

08/2021

Total investment costs

CZK 7 159 049 000 excl. VAT

Expected EU contribution

CZK 5,151,794,403

]]>Tue, 05 Jun 2018 08:25:09 GMTe1b19e6b-5ce9-408b-82fe-ad9932bb297d"In four years we opened a hundred kilometres of motorways or city bypasses. But mainly we are going to build new, and if we build 200 kilometres now, there will soon be another 150. It is certainly not true that we are building nothing. We have to focus mainly on speeding up the construction, the whole basic motorway network should have been already build, "says Prime Minister Andrej Babiš.

Currently the most advanced is the completion of the South Bohemian part of the D3 motorway, namely 19 km long sections Bošilec - Ševětín - Borek, which will be completed next year.

"We plan to start building the continuation of the motorway towards Austria this year, in particular another 20 kilometres on the bypass of České Budějovice, the construction will be finished in 2022. The three remaining sections, with a total length of 24 km, bound to the border, and then the remaining five sections of the Central Bohemian part of the D3 motorway will follow, "says Minister of Transport Dan Ťok.

This year, there are plans to open another 40 km of motorways and 1st class roads, namely four modernized sections of the D1 motorway, the D7 section near Postoloprty or the sections of roads I/22 near Strakonice in the South Bohemian Region, in Ústí nad Labem region it will be in summer the road I/62 Děčín - Vilsnice or I/34 Rouštany - Pohled in the Vysočina region.

Over the past four years, the total investment in transport was CZK 385 billion. At the same time, the prices of newly built motorways are being reduced. While one kilometre averaged 342 million crowns in 2008, the price is currently 55 percent lower, with a kilometre for 152 million.

Currently, according to the interactive map of the Ministry of Transport and the ŘSD, 121 kilometres of motorways are under construction, of which the modernization of the D1, which is basically a construction of a new motorway in the same track, is 40 kilometres. 1st class road under construction is 72 kilometres in total.

]]>Mon, 04 Jun 2018 05:41:22 GMT81018ad4-44f1-4c46-ad98-5ef735cac1ff"The solution to the railway junction in Brno has been discussed for three generations, and I am glad that that both the county and the central commission of the ministry finally agreed that the most suitable option is the one near the river. The relocation will benefit Brno in particular and will make room for the organic development of its centre, "says Minister of Transport Dan Ťok.

The Brno railway node is currently overloaded, passenger and freight trains often have a problem passing through the city. In case of the high-speed line through the Moravian metropolis, the river option is more advantageous. The main railway station moves to the place of today's Lower Railway Station, but this solution is most suitable for further use of the railway.

The Central Commission's recommended project option is referred to as Option A - River. This option is based on a valid urban plan of Brno and consists in solving the transit of the 1st transit railway corridor in a common corridor for passenger and freight transport in the track of the existing cargo way. The existing passenger way is cancelled according to this option and the main railway station is newly located approximately on the site of the existing Lower Railway Station near the Svratka River.

Option A can be implemented in four possible alternatives, varying in the Chrlice line connection to the main railway station and in arranging routes from Břeclav and from Střelice to the main railway station. Each of the specific alternatives always combines one possibility of connecting the route from Chrlice and one possibility of connecting routes from Břeclav and Střelice.

The Central Commission decided to recommend the Ab option, where it is envisaged to link the route from Chrlice to the existing Komárovka link and then to the I. TŽK. The connection of the route from Břeclav and from Střelice is made in the directional arrangement in the area of the perimeter of the passenger station. Technically, this solution is made possible by the collision-free grade separation of the two mentioned routes in the southern part of Brno railway node. In the area of the main railway station and in the following section in the direction to Brno-Židenice, the relevant modifications of the rail are proposed.

According to the Central Commission of the Ministry, all projected options, both option A - River and option B - Petrov, are economically advantageous. However, a higher risk of modification of the railway node in the current arrangement is the necessity of changes in the planning documentation from Brno, which could endanger, delay or disable the entire implementation of the railway node. Due to this reason, the commission preferred the option near the river.

"Now, before the next step of project documentation, the Railway Infrastructure Administration will prepare a technical and economic revision of modifications to increase the throughput and stability of the Ab option model of freight transport, while respecting the needs of passenger transport to the extent approved in the feasibility study," says the Central Commission in its conclusion.

The Ministry of Transport is currently preparing a detailed report for the government describing the benefits of the selected option. The costs of the entire reconstruction of the railway node are estimated to be 43.1 billion crowns (40.8 billion the railway part, 2.3 billion for the related urban infrastructure).

The Central Commission of the Ministry of Transport is composed of representatives of the Ministry, the State Fund for Transport Infrastructure and concerning the topic of the Brno railway node also the representatives of the Railway Infrastructure Administration and the Mayor of Brno were present.

Conclusion of the CC negotiations:

However, the risk of impossibility to implement the project is crucial for the final selection of the option due to the need for changes in the town planning documentation.

Option B, despite their advantage in terms of financial analysis, are to a great extent threatened by a political disagreement with the fundamental change of the town planning documentation by the City of Brno.

Due to these reasons, the Central Commission gives priority to the Ab option, provided that:

The SŽDC will, prior to the award of the next stage of the project documentation, process the technical and economic revision of the modifications to increase the throughput and stability of the Ab option model freight transport while respecting the passenger transport needs in extent of the approved feasibility study.

The technical and economic revision will be discussed with the relevant departments of the Ministry of Transport, before and during the processing, and will be submitted to the Central Commission for determining of the following procedure.

The technical solution will be prepared in order to enable the SJKD to be implemented.

]]>Wed, 30 May 2018 10:41:57 GMT9c977d14-51db-4045-a1d5-939947e84669
"From this first invitation on hydrogen filling stations, we would like to support the construction of at least four to five stations from dedicated funding. This is how we would like to lay the foundations for the development of hydrogen mobility in the Czech Republic, "says Minister of Transport Dan Ťok.

On the basis of the Ministry of Transport's assignment, a study on the use of hydrogen in transport was made in 2017. The main conclusions of this study also include that at least 12 hydrogen stations are needed to develop hydrogen mobility by 2025, and that in this situation, it is expected that approximately 70 hydrogen buses and 12.5 thousand passenger cars will be operated. Also due to these reasons, already in 2017, the allocation of hydrogen station support from the originally planned 100 million CZK has been increased to 200 million CZK. The second invitation for the support of hydrogen stations (allocation of 50 mil. CZK) the Ministry of Transport plans to announce in the first quarter of 2019.

The National Action Plan for Clean Mobility, which was approved by the government already in November 2015, talks about supporting the development of infrastructure for charging stations, CNG, LNG and hydrogen filling stations. In total, the Ministry of Transport has allocated 1.2 billion crowns to the program for support of alternative fuels under OPD.

More detailed information on the terms of the support is part of the detailed documentation of the invitation, which is published on the website of the OPD Managing Authority: http://web.opd.cz/vyzva-39

This invitation for support of the development of hydrogen filling station infrastructure relates on invitations that are focused on supporting the construction of a backbone network of fast charging stations, supplementary networks of conventional charging stations for electromobiles and CNG, LNG filling stations.

]]>Wed, 30 May 2018 10:35:06 GMTfcca5522-fe94-4ffb-9c47-5d96054d8802"The law does not prohibit the use of flash drives for large documentation of 95,000 documents. In a similar competition in Germany, a rewritable medium is used and no one is contradicting. The antitrust office says there are differences on data carriers with anonymized documents compared to flash drives with non-anonymized data. However, there should not be a comparison of only these two data carriers, which will logically differ, but separately a group of anonymized flash drives and, separately the second group of non-anonymized ones. It has to be added that Kapsch wanted us to black the data in the documentation, and then affronted the difference of the disks,” said Minister of Transport Dan Ťok.

The ÚOHS did not address the nature and character of the changes due to anonymization, according to the Ministry, the Office would find that it was not a substantive change, but the lack of a type of deletion of the title of the document which could not affect the tenders submitted. The Office merely stated briefly that the mere fact that the disks were not identical was capable of influencing the selection of the most appropriate tender, which the ministry considers to be a totally wrong legal conclusion.

"The Antimonopoly Office did not allow us to comment on comparing the data carriers at all, because they did not provide the results in the background papers for the decision. We could not even ask questions to hired expert. We also see procedural failure in the fact that the supervising authority itself has not been able to track for three months where the discs are and who has access to them. Therewithal they do not want to return the data carriers, which we have already contradicted in court, "adds Ťok.

At the same time, the ÚOHS, according to the ministry, mistakenly states in its decision that the contracting submitter has not set a range of charges from 2020 and also mistakenly states that it merely "expects" the extension of the toll by 900-kilometre on Class I roads.

"The extension of tolls on Class I roads is firmly provided in the tender dossier; on the contrary, objectively, as in the previous tolling tender in 2006, the number of all newly built motorways on which the toll will be collected cannot be accurately determined per kilometre. Therefore, it is a predicted estimate of the toll charged sections. However, we have already solved this with tenderers in their questions about the tender dossier. But this fact the antitrust authority did not take into account when deciding, "says the minister of transport.

At the same time, the Ministry objected to the bias of the chairman of the supervisory authority for his misleading and truth-inaccurate media statement, commenting on the ineffective first-instance decision of the Office; the Ministry does so for the purpose of possible review by the administrative courts.

The Ministry of Transport is already preparing for the Government an analysis of other alternative solutions which will ensure the continuation of toll collection after 2019 in the event of a definitive cancellation of the tender. The aim is to ensure the collection of tolls, which annually adds 10 billion crowns, at a lower cost than they have been so far.

]]>Wed, 23 May 2018 13:50:26 GMT351f5de3-8dc6-4c4e-bf7e-2684b88d3136In the spring of this year, three-quarters of voters did not believe in a local newspaper poll that the bypass would actually begin to build. "Building is important in terms of transport, we have successfully completed the competition and made it clear that we want to help people in the region. The state has fulfilled the word when it started to redevelop the ecological damp that is related to the bypass, "said minister of transport Dan Ťok.

At present, both the 2.3 km long D48 connection and the 4.2 km long first step of the bypass are under construction. They should be completed in April 2022. "The construction of the Frýdek-Místek capacitive bypass and the related connection of the D56 motorway will divert all transit traffic from the city to the bypass roads, which will significantly increase the safety and fluency of the road traffic. The key is the start of the second step of the bypass, where currently, unfortunately, the building permit is contradicted by one of civic association. Nevertheless, we would like to start this second step even this year, "introduced the construction Jan Kroupa, CEO of the ŘSD.

Local people have been talking about the bypass for over two decades, and they also organized demonstrations for initiation. The Frýdek-Místek passage is a noise heavy burden on the apartment buildings and is a source of frequent traffic accidents.

The D56 construction in Frýdek-Místek, connection to D48 is the completion of the western bypass of Frýdek-Místek in view of the D56 road and the continuation of the D48 Frýdek-Místek bypass construction. The construction of the bypass, together with the D56 motorway, will significantly improve the environment for the citizens of the city, speeding up transport.

The D48 motorway forms an important traffic artery in the West-East direction within the Moravian-Silesian Region. The communication connects the southern part of the Moravian-Silesian Region with Central Moravia and with Poland.

The D56 motorway forms an important traffic artery in the North-South direction within the Moravian-Silesian Region. It connects Ostrava with an attractive recreational site around the Šance water reservoir in the Moravian-Silesian Beskydy Mountains and with the Beskydy Mountains in general. It allows connection of the Ostrava region and the Slovak Republic through the border crossings Horní Bečva - Makov or Bílá - Klokočov.

The buildings are designed to be co-financed under the Operational Program Transport 2014-2020 from the Cohesion Fund and from the European Regional Development Fund. They managed to compete them for a quarter less than originally assumed by ŘSD: instead of CZK 2,896 billion, they would cost only CZK 2.169 billion (excluding VAT).

Currently, the department of transport builds 118 km of motorways and 75 km of 1st class roads in the Czech Republic. A total of 197 km of road constructions.

]]>Tue, 22 May 2018 12:01:48 GMT4f836607-9155-4403-a6ea-b34d1b0b36fc"We are getting from political declaration to technical questions and designing. We have agreed that a 26-kilometre cross-border tunnel will be designed and operated according to German regulations, which will be regulated in an interstate agreement. For this purpose, a joint project team will be established at Deutsche Bahn Netz level and Railway Infrastructure Administration, "says Minister of Transport Dan Ťok.

Between the Czech Republic and Germany there is an increase in freight transport by rail as well as motorway, therefore the high-speed railway is a major priority for Saxon minister of transport, Martin Dulig. At the same time, he wanted to make sure that, as on the German side also in the Czech Republic, intensive preparations are being made and funding of the cross-border railway is ensured.

A feasibility study is under way which will assess the economic efficiency of the project by the second half of 2019 and will choose the resulting option of the technical solution for further project preparation. "By the end of 2018, the Railway Administrators will prepare a joint agreement governing the further development of the cross-border section and will also quantify the resources needed for preparation in 2019 and 2020," adds Minister Ťok.

The Czech Rail Infrastructure Manager, together with the Saxon Ministry of Economy, Labour and Transport, are cooperating on a new study co-financed by the Czech Republic - Free State of Saxony 2014-2020 Cooperation Program, which deals with specific geological issues in the future tunnel and transport relationship.

The new high-speed railway to Dresden, belonging to the priority connections, will shorten the travelling time between Prague and Dresden to one hour and simultaneously will take away part of the traffic from the overloaded conventional route in the Labe Valley. The construction of a new route from Prague to Dresden could start around 2030. Estimates of the cost of the entire route are around five billion Euros.

]]>Thu, 17 May 2018 08:29:35 GMTa9788782-1339-4d16-909d-1c4a6ee4b3ff

"Within three to six years, European funds for the construction of motorways will be significantly reduced. Therefore, we need to prepare for other funding models such as PPP. In the future we would like to build in this way in locations where we have a compact motorway section with a length of at least 30 km and get a valid planning permit. The D35 or D6 are among the candidates,“ says the transport minister Dan Ťok.

Applicants can file their applications until July 2, 2018. Then they will be evaluated and short-listed, i.e. reduced to four applicants based on the number of similar PPP projects they have completed. Four joint ventures with most PPP reference projects will be invited to competition dialogues and further negotiations with the contracting authority.

The Ministry of Transport assumes that about CZK 25 billion will be paid to the winner for the construction and operation of the motorway. Based on world-wide practices, the tender value was set as the total of nominal availability payments for the entire contract term. The final annual availability payment will be defined in a public tender. "The winning bidder will not only construct the motorway, but also monitor the work quality and ensure motorway operation and maintenance, because it must hand over the motorway to the state in a top shape," minister Ťok adds.

The government approved the minister's plan to build the remaining part of the D4 through PPP in January 2016 In the next year, the Ministry of Transport signed a contract with White&Case, Česká spořitelna and Obermeyer Helika that will help the state with preparing the project and selecting the concessionaire. Contrary to the expected project price of CZK 79 million, the state saved more than CZK 50 million thanks to the public tender for PPP consultancy services. The whole remaining section of the D4 already has legally effective planning permits and a new EIA statement is pending. Land purchases along the entire length of the remaining route continue as well.

]]>Mon, 14 May 2018 08:33:57 GMT02450ba6-2a30-4909-ae35-690fa911838b

Paying not enough attention to driving is the most frequent cause of accidents (19.61%)*

This is the third most common offence of Czech drivers (after speeding and failure to wear the seat belt) **

The campaign of the Czech association of insurance companies, starting in the middle of May, shall change this behaviour of Czech drivers.

The traffic police of the Czech police directorate and BESIP of the Ministry of Transport of the CR are the project partners

Not only has the number of traffic accidents and their consequences, resulting from lack of attention to driving, been growing over the last years (only in 2017 it was 65 people who died on Czech roads as a result of little attention paid to driving), but also the behaviour of drivers has been greatly transformed. "Every day we will see drivers holding their mobile phone while driving, having a phone call or writing a message, which means they are not concentrating on the traffic situation," comments colonel Tomáš Lerch, the director of the traffic police service of the Czech Police Presidium. But when considering safety, the driver is influenced in the same way as is he/she had 0.8 promile of alcohol in his/her blood if having a phone call while driving.

"When writing a short text message, the driver will loose concentration within a few seconds. During that time and if going 50 km/h, he/she will have moved by 70 m, i.e. the distance of a football field. Whoever starts chatting while driving poses an extreme risk," adds Tomáš Neřold who is authorised with the management of a separate BESIP department of the Ministry of Transport of the Czech Republic.

"Modern insurance companies shall care about prevention. We believe it is important that they help their clients ensure that as little damage as possible is caused, because the best damage is the one which has never been caused," says the executive director of the Czech association of insurance companies Jan Matoušek. Every year, drivers on Czech roads cause up to 10 000 cases of damage covered by the compulsory insurance, the cause of which is their use of the mobile phone. The damage amounts to CZK 550 million.

The communication campaign of the Czech association of insurance companies mostly addresses emotions. It shows children gravely affected by the possible injury or death of their parents. The behaviour of drivers does not mitigate the risk they are exposed to, but the risk their family and close friends are exposed to.

"Even when an accident has already happened, one can better cope with damage cause to him/her. It is much more difficult to cope with hurting someone we care about. And this is exactly what we want to want to use,“ says Jan Matoušek about the campaign motives.

The campaign is funded from the Damage Prevention Fund where insurance companies pay 3% of their compulsory insurance premiums received under the applicable act*** and will cost almost CZK 40 million. Radio spots and an online campaign support two TV spots.

]]>Wed, 02 May 2018 13:41:28 GMT81c9168f-7633-48df-85e5-9dd51a208fe4
The Ministry of Transport announces the call on April 27. The deadline for submitting applications will be September 17, 2018. Applicants from these industries can apply for the subsidy: distribution of gaseous fuels through networks, gas trading or fuel retail in specialised outlets and applicants who submit a project for the construction of CNG filling stations on the territory of the Czech Republic. The scope of the project depends on applicant's considerations. In this call, the maximum rate of support of eligible expenditure may be up to 60%. The subsidy applications will be evaluated particularly in terms of economic efficiency, readiness and project relevance.

"We would like to support the construction of at least five LNG filling stations, so that at least long-distance trucks can pass through the Czech Republic. These publicly accessible filling stations will be also used for domestic freight and/or buses", says the transport minister Dan Ťok.

The National Clean Mobility Action Plan, approved by the government in November 2015, envisages 5 LNG filling stations in 2025. The objective should be achieved earlier thanks to the contribution from the operational programme.

Besides the natural gas filling stations (CNG and LNG), the Ministry of Transport also wants to support the construction of hydrogen filling stations. The call for this domain will be announced still during the spring of 2018. In total, the Ministry of Transport allocated CZK 1.2 billion for this subsidy programme within the Operational Programme Transportation for the support of alternative fuels infrastructure.

More detailed information on the terms of the support can be found in the detailed documentation of the call published on the website of the control body for the Operational Programme Transportation: http://web.opd.cz/vyzva-38

This call for the support of the development of the LNG filling stations infrastructure follows some already open calls focused on the support of a backbone network of fast recharging stations and an additional networks of conventional recharging stations for electric cars and CNG filling stations.

]]>Fri, 27 Apr 2018 06:54:15 GMT2e8fb9a1-f628-457f-9d0c-06a7208d51ac
"The majority of drivers do not take any risks and they keep the permitted speed of 80 km/h when safely passing through the motorway construction site. But we must, together with the police and competent municipalities that deal with the traffic offences, target and calm down these few speeding drivers who cause tragic accidents and traffic complications," says Dan Ťok, the minister of transport.

Speed measurements started on a D1 section between Velké Meziříčí (EXIT 146) and Lhotka (EXIT 153). More sections will receive the automatic detection camera system this year, e.g. between Ostředek (EXIT 34) and Šternov (EXIT 41) plus a six-km section between Hořice (EXIT 75) and Koberovice (EXIT 81). Speed measurements will also start between Jihlava (EXIT 112) and Velký Beranov (EXIT 119) depending on when the city of Jihlava purchases the detection cameras.

"Accidents that happen in the narrow sections of construction sites are mostly caused by drivers who do not manage their speed well, crash into the temporary crash barriers and block traffic in the section even for several hours. The section speed measurement system has proven well during the last two years, which is why we will use it again this year," says Tomáš Lerch, the traffic police director.

The section measurement system brought smoother and safer traffic on the modernised D1 motorway already last year. In the section Psáře – Soutice only 1.2% of drivers were speeding last year. Due to the high traffic intensity, the police recorded almost 50 000 offences.

Collaborating with the Road and Motorways Directorate (ŘSD), BESIP prepared a series of training videos how to correctly drive through the sections with restrictions. You can watch all these videos on facebook of the Ministry of Transport or on the YouTube channel of BESIP.

Building works on the modernisation of the D1 motorway between Prague and Brno are currently under way on five sections simultaneously. Traffic is guided through four lanes, two in each direction, on all these construction sites. You can find current information on where more modernisation works on the D1 will start at www.novaD1.cz. To see the list of major repairs and restrictions, check www.dopravniinfo.cz or call the ŘSD free hotline 800 280 281. The current construction sites can be found at www.mdcr.cz/mapa.

]]>Tue, 24 Apr 2018 07:09:32 GMT55127af0-9c52-4142-8560-6d23c5f6248d
The planning and building proceedings should start for the remaining sections towards the state border soon and drivers should be able to start using the South-Bohemian D3 motorway no later than in 2025. The connecting Austrian section – the S10 motorway – should be completed one year earlier.

Both delegations informed each other about the development of the railway connection between the two countries as well, particularly the corridor between Prague, České Budějovice and Linz where the introduction of two-hour regular intervals, as it is now planned, will bring more connection options in Linz towards Salzburg – Zürich. There are direct long-distance trains operating between Prague and Linz already now, with a travel time of four hours.

]]>Tue, 17 Apr 2018 09:36:37 GMTb401053f-56b9-415f-82c8-449d28b523af
The consortium of these companies wins with the price CZK 10.75 billion excluding VAT and should operate the toll system from 2020 for another ten years. The expected value of the supply and the ten-year operation of the electronic toll system, including an extension of the network subject to toll by 900 km, was budgeted in the project as CZK 29 billion, which corresponds to the rates of the existing toll system operator.

This is however not the end of the electronic toll system tender yet. I notified the government that the Office for the Protection of Competition is reviewing the tender and we are not allowed to sign any contract with the winner. At the same time, we can expect that the loosing bidders will raise objections against the selection of the best bid. We except the contract to be signed in the autumn, so that the new operator has 14 months for preparation and subsequent take-over of the electronic toll system unless the whole procurement is cancelled," minister Ťok adds.

The Ministry of Transport also notified the government about their analysis of alternative solutions to the public procurement for the electronic toll system. According to this analysis, any other option but letting this existing procurement be finished is problematic, because implementation does not start before 2021, i.e. more than 18 months after the end of the contract with the existing toll system operator.

The Ministry of Transport announced the tender for the toll system operator after 2019 in June 2017 with such parameters as required by the government. The ministry says that the preliminary offers of four qualified bidders showed that the tender terms were comprehensible and allowed the bidders to file their bids.

The Ministry of Transport wants to sign the contract with the new operator until the autumn of this year. After that, the operator will have 14 months for the take-over of the system, for testing and launching the electronic toll from January 2020. The expected toll revenue from motorways and category I roads should be around CZK 140 to 150 billion during the ten-year term.

Please note: The public procurement law does not allow informing the public about the content of preliminary bids as part of the so-called "negotiation proceedings with publishing". This means that the Ministry of Transport cannot comment on or publish any details on the participants in the tender and/or more specific information on preliminary bids until the end of the procurement.

]]>Wed, 11 Apr 2018 06:49:26 GMT798388de-40cd-4ec5-8fb6-c3ff92a39695
The owners were supposed to remove illegal billboards until September 2017 – they had the whole five years for this. After that, the Ministry of Transport started with the big red tape process: calls for the removal of advertisement facilities along motorways and their close proximity in accordance with the roads act. Regional Road Administration Authorities started sending calls for category I roads and their close surroundings.

"The law says that nobody can just come and simply cut off the advertisement. A number of papers need to be provided for each piece of equipment, so that its removal cannot be legally questioned or challenged as damage to a foreign thing," says the transport minister and adds that the biggest help would be if the billboard owners removed them at their cost and so fulfilled their legal obligations.

Some owners obstruct the billboard removal for instance by deliberately changing the owner or registered office of the company operating the respective billboard. During the actual disassembly they will call the police, saying that the motorways maintenance workers are destroying their property.

]]>Tue, 10 Apr 2018 11:05:36 GMT140c157d-5ea5-4af2-afdf-0069d2cfc9b5
In total, 1 093 emission measurement stations, of which 1 093 are active, are registered in the information system of the Ministry of Transport. During the first quarter since this duty has applied for the emission measurement stations, these stations performed over 560 000 measurements and uploaded 3 178 557 images to the information system of the Ministry of Transport. This is the same information system that Technical Inspection Stations are using. For them this duty started two years earlier – in January 2016.

To make the search for the closest Emission Measurement Station and Technical Inspection Station easier for drivers, the ministry prepared on its website an interactive map of all stations in the Czech Republic, including Municipal Departments with Extended Powers, for the case that drivers will need to change something about their vehicle registration. You you check the map HERE.